The History of Jihad - From Muhammad to ISIS

Description

The comprehensive history of the role of war and terror in the spread of Islam. It is taken for granted, even among many Washington policymakers, that Islam is a fundamentally peaceful religion and that Islamic jihad terrorism is something relatively new, a product of the economic and political ferment of the twentieth century. But in The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS, Islamic scholar Robert Spencer proves definitively that Islamic terror is as old as Islam itself, as old as Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, who said “I have been made victorious through terror.” Spencer briskly traces the 1,400-year war of Islamic jihadis against the rest of the world, detailing the jihad against Europe, including the 700-year struggle to conquer Constantinople; the jihad in Spain, where non-Muslims fought for another 700 years to get the jihadi invaders out of the country; and the jihad against India, where Muslim warriors and conquerors wrought unparalleled and unfathomable devastation in the name of their religion. Told in great part in the words of contemporary chroniclers themselves, both Muslim and non-Muslim, The History of Jihad shows that jihad warfare has been a constant of Islam from its very beginnings, and present-day jihad terrorism proceeds along exactly the same ideological and theological foundations as did the great Islamic warrior states and jihad commanders of the past. The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS is the first one-volume history of jihad in the English language, and the first book to tell the whole truth about Islam’s bloody history in an age when Islamic jihadis are more assertive in Western countries than they have been for centuries. This book is indispensable to understanding the geopolitical situation of the twenty-first century, and ultimately to formulating strategies to reform Islam and defeat radical terror. Advance Praise for The History of Jihad......Page 2 Copyright......Page 6 Dedication......Page 8 Contents......Page 9 Introduction......Page 10 Chapter One: "I Bring You Slaughter": The Battles of Muhammad......Page 13 Chapter Two: The Age of the Great Conquests......Page 44 Chapter Three: The Jihad Comes to Spain and India......Page 71 Chapter Four: Consolidation and Oppression......Page 106 Chapter Five: The Victims of Jihad Strike Back......Page 133 Chapter Six: The Jihad Advances into Europe......Page 166 Chapter Seven: The Ottomans and Mughals in Ascendance......Page 202 Chapter Eight: Degringolade......Page 233 Chapter Nine: Resurgence......Page 267 Chapter Ten: The West Loses the Will to Live......Page 306 Endnotes......Page 347 Acknowledgments......Page 387 Bibliography......Page 389 About the Author......Page 397